As promised...

What did I promise, you ask?  Well, you're going to have to wait (im)patiently for the end of the post!  (Or you could scroll down to the end, I suppose, but where's the fun in that?!!)


A couple of weeks ago I went with a couple of friends to the regional day for the Quilter's Guild of the British Isles and listened to Jon MacPherson from Barnyarns talk about thread (he gave us a great handout and said we could distribute it so if anyone is interested please let me know and I'll scan and email it!).  After we'd helped set up the hall for the afternoon (mini) workshops, a spot of lunch and a spot of shopping.  I didn't buy much but I did get a great book for a bargain price.

£4!!

It gives you a diagram and name(s) of the blocks and is divided into four patch, nine patch, curves, etc.

(Sorry about the odd angle - it was the only way to not get a shadow and I keep forgetting to get a photo in daylight!)  I think it's going to live on my coffee table for quite a while and, as you can see, I've already bookmarked one block that I want to try!

The mini workshop went really well (no photos, sorry!) and it was lovely to see the thing we quilters pride ourselves on - being friendly and helping each other.  There were people sharing threads, pins and needles as well as helping each other with the next step and everyone was quite content to chat to people they had never met.  In the workshop where I was acting as a teaching assistant there was a complete beginner and it was so lovely to see the ladies either side mark a stitching line for her and keep an eye on her.  It's not often I've had the privilege to teach an adult the absolute basics of hand sewing (tying a knot, threading a needle, how to do a running stitch/back stitch, etc.) and it was lovely to see that by the end of the session she was confident enough to take another kit with her to make at home!

On Sunday I went with the same friends (plus another!) to Castle Howard to see it decorated for Christmas.  Some of you may know it as the Marchmain home, Brideshead, in the film (and series) Brideshead Revisited.  It truly is a beautiful home (and it is a family home, albeit a grand one!) and the decorations were lovely.  If you're in the area I'd recommend a visit!  After a tour of the house we went to Helmsley for lunch and a wander round the bookshop.  A lovely way to spend a Sunday!

I've been busy in my sewing room this afternoon but I'm afraid I can only share one thing with you at the moment.  Now, I'll be honest, it's not the best thing I've ever made (one of those occasions when the image in your head isn't matched by reality!) but I admire honest bloggers who admit to their not so good moments as well as their successes so in the the spirit of sharing...

Hmmm...also not the best photo in the world!

It's supposed to be a tickling stick.  As soon as I read the theme in the email (happiness) I started singing 'Happiness' in my head.  Now, for those of you not familiar with the 'song' (and I use the term with some caution!) this is not a good thing...those of you also lucky enough to be unfamiliar with Ken Dodd won't know that he is famous for his tickling stick.  If you're wondering what the song sounds like have a listen but be warned, it sticks in your head!  Fortunately the rest of the things I've made this afternoon have been more successful - it wouldn't be hard!

And now for the promise...in this post (over a month ago, oops!) I promised I would do something to celebrate having 100 followers (112 now, wow!).  Well, after rather a lot of work (started 22nd November, finished 3rd December and it's the only thing I've been working on in that time!) I've finally finished a little something which I would like to give to one of you (and is considerably better than the postcard!)...want to see?!

When I started stitching I was worried that no one would like it and you would all be thinking 'please don't let my name be the one that Archie chooses' but now I wouldn't mind if no one likes it as I'm going to find it hard to part with!  I must admit that I'm rather proud of this and so I'm going to show you a few more photos...

 

In case anyone is interested (and for future reference!) I used two strands of DMC for all but the turkey knots in the centre where I used three strands and the colours I used are 666 (red), 608 (orange), 444 (yellow), 907 (green), 3843 (blue) and 550 (purple).  The fabric is Kona Medium Grey (pinched from my DP project!) and the hoop is 6" in diameter.

And (again for future reference) the back

Laced to ensure the fabric stays taut...

Oh, and there will be some fabric included as part of the prize - 0.5m of Ironwood Aneta from Echo by Lotta Jansdotta.

So, if you fancy having the hoop and fabric drop through your letter box sometime before Christmas (if you're in the UK, I may have to wait until after Christmas if you're elsewhere as I'm going to miss the last posting date and I don't want to risk it getting lost) then here's how you enter:

For one chance leave me a (preferably nice!) comment.**

For a second chance think of a (amusing) caption for this photo (and leave it in a separate comment)

Think of something I could put here!

I'm not advertising this as I want to give you regular readers the best chance of winning to say thank you for the lovely welcome to the blogging world you've all given me and all the lovely comments you've left in the past three (ish) months...

International entries are more than welcome and you have until 7pm (GMT) on Tuesday 13th December to enter.  Archie will be picking a winner sometime after that (method to be decided!) - good luck!

 

**If you're not sure how to leave a comment click on 'xx comments, click here to add yours' which is at the bottom of this post and a pop up window will appear.  Write your comment in the empty box at the bottom of  the window and choose 'anonymous' as your identity (if you don't have an account that you can sign in with) but please leave me your email address so I can contact you if you win!  (If I know you in real life you don't need to leave an email address, just leave your first name!) If you would like to become a follower you will need a Blogger account, which is free, and then you can come back and click on either 'follow' at the top of the screen or 'join this site' on the top left  right (honestly, how old will I be before I can tell my left from my right?!) of this page.

P.S. Kelli - look what was on our local news this evening!!  Does Buster fancy a job next year?!!

THE GIVE AWAY IS NOW CLOSED AND ARCHIE AND I ARE IN NEGOTIATIONS ABOUT THE BEST WAY TO PICK THE WINNER - THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR ENTRIES AND GOOD LUCK!